{"text":[[{"start":12.41,"text":"Beijing set up four state-owned entities to help clean up a banking system weighed down with bad debt in the late 1990s. "},{"start":19.002,"text":"The largest of the four, China Huarong Asset Management, has long benefited from low yields and government support. "},{"start":25.482,"text":"Now the distressed debt manager has become the one to threaten the stability of China’s credit market. "}],[{"start":31.330000000000002,"text":"Huarong’s Hong Kong-listed shares have been suspended since April 1 after it failed to report results for last year by a March 31 deadline. "},{"start":39.497,"text":"Confidence in the debt manager was further shaken by local traders, who circulated a report of the worst-case scenario — a possible bankruptcy. "}],[{"start":48.07,"text":"It would have been easier to uncover the full extent of Huarong’s troubled finances if Lai Xiaomin was still around to question. "},{"start":54.649,"text":"But in January China executed the group’s former chair for bribery. "}],[{"start":59.55,"text":"Panic has been spreading. "},{"start":61.467,"text":"The yield on Huarong’s $300m 3.375 per cent bond due May 2022 soared to a record 23 per cent on Tuesday. "},{"start":70.259,"text":"Spreads on investment-grade dollar bonds issued by Chinese companies widened by as much as 8 basis points. "},{"start":76.252,"text":"High-yield Chinese dollar bonds were also hit. "},{"start":78.919,"text":"The prices for those with issuers seen as risky — developers, for example — fell by record amounts. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"
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